buckysieve

Thats true about York but don't forget he already won a national title at Bowling Green. 5 Frozen Fours in what, 7 seasons? Multiple regular season and post season titles. Very impressive. There's no arguing that Hakstol has done a great job. It's just ironic that the people calling him a great coach are the same people who consistently ripped Woog for having almost identical accomplishments while at the U.

Yeah thats true, at least they got some guys back eventually. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm not sure I remember a year in which the Gopher had such few injuries. Larson has missed about a month but other than that basically nothing. But you're right, three season ending injuries is tough to overcome.

I think Denver has had even worse luck than UND this year as far as injuries go.

It was a joke.

As long as he's blindfolded from the airport to the arena so he doesn't have to see where he would be spending a year of his life I would think UND has a great shot at landing him.

Yep. College hockey is even considerably less popular than women's basketball. They have regular season games on ESPN every week. This year the Frozen Four semi's aren't even on ESPN2, they've been moved to ESPNU.

It was on an FSN+ channel that night.

I would think the Gophers would almost have to win out to climb to a #1 seed. Placing UND in St. Paul makes sense geographically but the committee would be forced to ship them somewhere else if the seeds are Gophers as a #2 and UND as a #3 or #1 and #4.

I thhink we have the highest ticket prices in the nation as well.

The Sioux can make a run. Great top line, good defense, two experienced goalies. And this years team probably wont feel the pressure to win the whole thing like past Sioux teams that were more talented and higher ranked so they can play more relaxed.

Then you dont remember. The Ralph was literally half empty during those years the Sioux were irrelevent.

I meant to say 2002, the first year of the Ralph when the Sioux came to Minneapolis for the WCHA first round.

You're wrong on two accounts. First, yes those are down years. Not sure how a Sioux fan could argue otherwise. 2001 was another down year. And second, if the fan base loved those years while the team was down then why was the the Ralph maybe half full?

When did I ever mention Rau being Hobey worthy? But since you mention it, he certainly has a chance to be a viable Hobey candidate the next three years if he improves.

Prpich was cheap, Hextall was just annoying. I have no problem pointing out Gophers who were cheap. Erik Westrum to this day is still the cheapest player I've seen in years. But I've watched Rau play all year and he's not cheap. I think players of Rau's size who play tenaciously like he does get unfairly labelled as chippy, not sure why.

Rau is not a dirty player.

Yeah I noticed that too, very strange. Conference champs no longer get an automatic bid correct? I know they changed the rule where they did get an automatic bid after 1994 when CC won the league but missed out on the NCAA's. But they have sinced changed that I believe.

I'm trying to remember myself. The Malone hit on Wehrs last year just as the period was ending was a very good clean hit. I had no problems with it. But Frattins hit was a blatant cheap shot where he left his feet and went high with his hands. I dont remember though exactly when this happended or who he hit. I know it was in Grand Forks, maybe it was the playoff series? And was that also Wehrs?

Nelson's a very good player. But its easy to cherry pick a stretch during the season to find stats that support your argument. Bjugstad is second in the nation in goal scoring.......For the WHOLE year.

I knew I was missing one. Thanks. And sorry for hijacking the thread. Back to Sioux recruits.....

Off the top of my head, Leopold, Martin, Ballard, Johnson, Goligoski, Leddy, Bickel, Ness, and Fairchild have all played in the NHL this season.

There it is!! There's that classic Sioux delusional thinking about the Gophers! Yep, if you have an M on your chest, you talk trash, take cheap shots, and hide behind your coaches and teammates. And your last line about UND only hitting opponents from the front is laughable. Kristo's hit on Marshall in Grand Forks was one of the cheaper hits in the league all year. Hits him diirectly from behind and then throws a punch for good measure.

If Gopher players are so soft like you claim, then why has the U had 9 different defenseman play in the NHL this season compared to the amount of Sioux d-men playing in the league. It's not even close.

Didn't he lead the team in goals? And Bjugstad does not play like a pansy as you say. Its bizarre how every Sioux fan just assumes that if he plays for the Gophers, he's soft. Nelson is very good, but he's not on the level of Bjugstad right now. Not yet anyways.

Why is he a prima donna? Because he plays for the Gophers? If there's a more NHL ready forward in the country than Bjugstad I certainly haven't seen him.